RU postpones semester exam dates, NSUI sees ‘ABVP influence’

The University of Rajasthan (RU) postponing its semester examinations scheduled on December 22-27 on a day the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) announced its state level meeting in Jaipur on December 24-26 has given opposition an opportunity to point fingers at the university’s decision

NSUI has alleged that the university postponed semester examinations ’due to the ABVP meeting’.(HT File)

The University of Rajasthan (RU) postponing its semester examinations scheduled on December 22-27 on a day the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) announced its state level meeting in Jaipur on December 24-26 has given opposition an opportunity to point fingers at the university’s decision.

ABVP, the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), on Saturday held a press conference to announce that its three-day state level meeting will begin from December 24. The same day the RU issued a notice stating that the semester examinations scheduled from December 22 to December 27 have been postponed due to “inevitable reasons”.

National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress, alleged that there is “no doubt” that the RU semester examinations of postgraduate and professional courses, which began on December 15, have been postponed “due to the ABVP meeting”.

“The vice chancellor is their [ABVP-RSS] man. The ABVP members met him with the demand and he conceded. He could have shown some spine and turned it down. This undue disruption could have been prevented,” said Dron Yadav, national office-bearer of NSUI and a final year student of LLM at the university.

However, the university denies the charge. “The postponement has nothing to do with ABVP meeting. Some students had come to us requesting that the semester exam dates be changed as they were clashing with entrance exam dates of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU),” said VK Gupta, controller of exams, RU.

When pointed out that JNU will hold its entrance examinations on December 27, 28, 29 and 30, Gupta said that the students mentioned other entrance examinations too. “One entrance exam is on December 24,” he said. “We have also received representation for postponement of exams scheduled on December 28 and 29. Plus, there were some technical issues too regarding the admit cards,” he added.

The university examination committee decided to postpone exams from December 22-27 and the fresh schedule will be declared on Monday, the controller of examinations said.

ABVP’s RU unit president Hushyar Meena said that they (the organisation leaders) had met the vice chancellor earlier to seek more gap days between examinations so that students could get more time to prepare. “This postponement will bring some respite at least,” said Meena, denying that there was any connection between the postponement of examinations and the organisation’s state level meeting.